How the dances that we dance were created, or the musical instruments that we play, or the amazing architectural monuments? What was the source of inspiration for composers, sculptors, and artists? Which kings, politicians and saints were seriously engaged in the arts, enriching the treasury of world culture? The program "Shades of Art" tries to answer these and other similar questions.

Today's broadcast is dedicated to a musical instrument that kings and great composers used to admire, but soon it was replaced by another instrument and forgotten for many years. The name of this instrument is a recorder or flаuto dolce, which in Italian means "a sweet flute" ...

In our series dedicated to the history and legends of musical instruments, today we offer our listeners the history of the creation of organ, the king of musical instruments, and the course of its development.

In our previous broadcast, we learned how and why primitive people created the first music and musical instruments.
Today we will talk about music and its role in the Ancient world, particularly in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome.

Our program is starting its 2018 broadcast new season. We are going to introduce you into the history of music and of the creation of the first musical instruments. Today we will try to understand why and how first humans created music, more precisely, primitive sounds.

Our today's special holiday broadcast is dedicated to the great Italian composer, violinist, teacher, conductor, and priest of the Catholic Church, Antonio Vivaldi, and particularly to his concert series "The Four Seasons."

In 1878, the Bartholf Senff publishing house in Leipzig printed Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate's Opus 20, the Gypsy Melodies (Airs). After five years, in 1883, Sarasate received a strange letter from the Hungarian composer Elemér Szentirmay, who wrote that he was the author of one of the parts in Gypsy Melodies.

The Heroic Symphony by Beethoven initiated a notable era for European symphonism, which was elevated by this work to a new innovative level. The Symphony was created in a psychologically very hard period for the composer.

At the end of the broadcast, you'll listen to the 1st and 2nd parts of the Symphony performed by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Today’s broadcast is dedicated to the history of creation of Slavonic Dances by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. You can listen to this work performed by Cleveland Symphony Orchestra at the end of the broadcast (conductor George Szell).

Polish composer Michal Oginski's polonaise "A Farewell to the Homeland" is considered the musical symbol of modern Poland. Some even proposed to choose it as the Polish national anthem but abandoned this idea because this polonaise is very difficult for singing.

Since ancient times, people have woven legends and myths about swan, considering it a symbol of purity and grandeur. Its beauty inspired a number writers, artists and composers, including the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Today's broadcast is about the movement "Swan" from his Suite "The Carnival of the Animals."

Benediktbeuern Abbey (or Beuern), a medieval monastery of the Benedictine Order, in Benediktbeuern in Bavaria, Germany. For many years, its monks have collected and preserved books of different content. The most popular among these books is perhaps "Carmina Burana," which, translated from Latin, means "Songs from Beuern." The poems of the collection became popular especially thanks to the famous cantata "Carmina Burana" by German composer and educator Carl Heinrich Maria Orff.

Bolero is a national Spanish dance, whose initial types originated in the second half of the 18th century. In the 19th century, bolero became so popular that became a part of musical theater and was taught with the rules of classical ballet.

In 1735, composer, violinist and organist Giovanni Battista Pergolesi moved from Naples, where he lived and worked, to a Franciscan monastery in the nearby small town of Pozzuoli. The reason was tuberculosis. After a year, on March 16, 1736, the sickness caused the death of the 26-year-old composer. During this year, Pergolesi created his most significant work, the Stabat Mater cantata in F minor.